The music awards show has had a pretty dodgy past with recognising the genre’s merits — and diverse winners in general.
This Sunday, we’ll see if hip-hop can cross one more important barrier at the Grammy Awards. This year, rap songs make up five out of eight of the nominees in the record of the year category, and also take up three out of the eight slots for song of the year. A hip-hop song has never won in either of the categories, which are two of the annual event’s biggest awards.
The Grammys have had a pretty dodgy past with recognizing the genre’s merits — and diverse winners in general — but with the rise of streaming firmly cementing hip-hop as America’s most popular genre it seems that Recording Academy voters might not be able to ignore rap in these categories any longer.
In record of the year, Cardi B, Bad Bunny, and J Balvin’s “I Like It” goes up against Childish Gambino’s “This Is America,” Drake’s “God’s Plan,” Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “All The Stars,” and Post Malone’s “Rockstar,” which also features 21 Savage. All of those tracks hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for at least one week, except “All The Stars” which peaked at No. 7 in February of last year. Brandi Carlile’s “The Joke,” Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born duet “Shallow,” and Maren Morris, Zedd, and Grey’s “The Middle” are also up for the award — the last two were crossover hits, reaching the top 5 on the Hot 100, but none hit No. 1. Drake, Kendrick and SZA, and Childish Gambino also got song of the year noms for their efforts. Read more